ケープタウンの食事に関しては、正直なところ全般的にあまり好みではありませんでした。選択ミスだった可能性もありますが、２週間の経験からはケープタウンの食事は、基本、どかんとお肉、な印象。お肉の量はわたしたちが食べれる倍くらい出てきて、レストランのお料理はそういう傾向にあるとは思うのですが、特にケープタウンではお野菜の量が少なくあまり工夫されていない印象。そして、お肉の量は１皿を２人でちょうど良い量ですが、あまりシェアーは好まれない印象。というのも、あるカフェのメニューに「１皿をシェアーした場合、その分料金をいただきます。」と書かれていました。残りをお持ち帰りは問題ないようでしたが。
I don’t want to upset any South African people – and we did have some good meals on this holiday – but we found the majority of the food we had not to really be to our taste. It’s possible that we chose wrong places but from our experience their way of eating is to have a huge amount of meat without a lot of vegetables or salads – though this is often the case in many “restaurants” in many countries we thought it was much more so in Cape Town. Their portion of meat was huge, double or more of what we would like most of the time, and very small amount of vegetables and choices of vegetable dishes. Menu was very similar in many restaurants – Hamburger, Chicken Burger, Steak of some kind, Line Fish of some kind… They also seemed to love “sweet & sour” flavour. Sharing one dish was about right amount for us but we didn’t think sharing a dish was encouraged (except at those restaurants where you order many small dishes) as we saw a menu in a cafe saying ” If you share a dish, we’ll charge for that.” However, taking away the leftovers seemed fine – but sadly not practical for visitors like us.
そして、ほとんどの食事の味がとても濃かったです。たまたま目にした雑誌にステレンボッシュのカフェの日本人シェフの言葉が載っていたのですが、「日本人の好む味をここで作っても受けない、反対にこちらの味を日本人に出すと濃すぎる。」というようなことをおっしゃっていて、そういうことなのだと思います。味が濃いだけでなくどれも重いスタイルで軽い味付けのものがあまりなく、野菜料理やサラダなどもあまりチョイスがなかったです。どこのメニューでも見かけたのはハンバーガー、チキンバーガー、ビーフステーキやゲーム系のお肉（鹿肉など）のステーキ、一本釣りで釣ったと明記されたお魚料理。現地の方の好みがそうなので仕方ありませんね、そして、甘くて酸っぱくて塩辛い、という味が好きな印象です、酢豚の味を濃くした感じ。そして、ハード系のパンが好きなわたしたちにはパンが美味しくなかった。薄く切ってサンドイッチにするようなパンばかりで、フランスパンなどハード系のパンをほとんど見かけませんでした。探せばあるのでしょうが、普通のレストランのパンは美味しくなかったです。でも、やはり高級レストランのお料理は、（味はやはり濃かったですが）世界的な流行のスタイルでした。
Also, their seasoning was much too strong for me in most places – often too sweet, too sour, too salty all at the same time. Just by chance I saw an article about a cafe in Stellenbosch, whose chef is Japanese and this Japanese chef said something like “If we cooked in the way South African people like it would be too sweet, too sour and too salty for Japanese.” and I agree. It doesn’t mean they are wrong, it just means we have different seasoning level we like as a nation. Things were also very heavy for me, not a lot of light dishes like vegetable dishes and salads. We didn’t like their bread very much either – this tended to be the quite soft type that is suitable for sandwiches. We tend to like firmer bread with a crispy crust. I’m sure you can find good bread if you search but what we had in most restaurants wasn’t to our taste. Even at very high level restaurants the seasonings were extremely strong (very sweet, very sour, very salty) but the style of cooking was similar to in other countries.
ビーフはどこでも臭みなく美味しかったのでお勧めですし（ほとんどのレストランのメニューにバーガーとステーキはありました）、食事もワインもお値段はシンガポールの４分の１から高級レストランなら６分の１くらい、多分日本の半分から３分の１くらいととってもお安かったです。サービスは、全般的にフレンドリーでしたし特に高級店のサービスはとても良かったです。ただ、食事が出てくるスピードはゆっくりなところが多かったので、いらいらせずにアフリカペースと思ってのんびりと待つよう心がけました。
However, beef was very good in general, quite tender, not gamy and had good flavour. Almost every restaurant had Hamburger and steak in the menu. Their prices were very low comparing to those in Singapore and Japan (some due to the exchange rate I guess), both food and wine were about 1/4 to 1/6 (in expensive places) of those in Singapore, and about a half to 1/3 of Japan I would say. The service was in general very good and friendly specially in high class restaurants although they could be very slow – we were OK about the slow service as we went with African time.
とても気に入ったレストランが数件ありますが、一番気に入ったレストランは最後の夜に食事をした、ケープタウンのダウンタウンにある「The Pot Luck Club」というレストランでした。この「The Pot Luck Club」は「Test Kitchen」というレストランと同じシェフのレストランで、どちらもケープタウンではとても美味しいと評判で予約が取りにくいレストラン。出来れば両方行きたいと思っていましたが、「Test Kitchen」の方は予約に出遅れてしまい（２ヶ月前の月の１日まで予約が出来ず、当日オープン時間から数時間遅れでアクセスしたら既に満席でした）予約が取れず、The Pot Luck Club の方だけ予約に成功。２部制で６時半か８時半にしか予約が取れないので、８時半に、席も選べる状態だったのでわたしたちはカウンター席を選びました。料理や盛り付け風景が見られて楽しかったです。こちら、２０１３年２月にオープン以来、夜は毎日２部とも満席だそうです。
There were a few restaurants we liked very much but the one we liked most was the one we went to for dinner on our last evening, “The Pot Luck Club” in downtown Cape Town. The Pot Luck Club and Test Kitchen are run with the same chef, both are very hard to get a reservation at I hear as they are very popular. I would have liked to go to both but I was a few hours too late to book Test Kitchen on the day they started taking reservations for the date we would have been in Cape Town. They don’t take reservations until the 1st of the month 2 months ahead. I did manage to book The Pot Luck Club, that has 2 sittings every evening at 6.30 and 8.30. I booked counter seats at 8.30pm. We enjoyed watching the chefs working on cooking and putting them together while we waited and ate. I read that they have been filling the restaurant up every sitting every evening since they oponed in February 2013.
２部制なので８時半に一気に全席埋まってしまうので、最初のお料理が出るまで少し時間がかかります。それまで、オリーブをいかがでしょうかと言われたのでオリーブをいただきました。
As they have 2 sittings at fixed times every evening, most of the customers arrive at the same time and it takes a while before you get your first dish, so the staff suggested to have some olives – so here they are.
カウンターに並んでいる食器類を見ると和食器っぽいものが多かったですし、炭火で焼いていたり、茄子の「煮付け」があったり、ポン酢が使われていたり、世界的な傾向ですが和食の影響を結構受けているように感じました。
Looking at the dishes along the counter and also the menu, I had a feeling they have a strong influence by Japanese food (which is I think a trend all over the world for the last few years). Many dishes/bowls looked oriental, if not Japanese, and they had things like Nizuke (I think they mean Nitsuke), Ponzu etc.
１品の量が少ないので、２人で６品から９品選んでシェアーするよう勧められました。最初にいただいたのは、ホームメイドのチャバタ。ケープタウンでも東ケープでもパンが美味しいところがほとんどなかったですが、こちらのパンは香ばしく、おいしくいただきました。
They recommend you to share the dishes, ordering 6 to 9 dishes between two people. The first thing that arrived (after the olives) was Homemade Ciabbata. As I said we didn’t like bread in general in Cape Town but this was one was quite nice.
（あちらは春なので）春のお野菜とビーツのサラダ。メニューの「酸っぱい」カテゴリーから選びましたが、酸味もありましたが甘みの方が勝っていました。ビーツの土臭さも濃かったので好みが分かれると思いますが、わたしは結構好きでした。それに、サラダを長く食べていなかったので余計美味しく感じました。
Then Spring Vegetable Salad (as it was spring in Cape Town) from the menu’s “Sour” category. Although there was some sourness, it was mostly sweet. It tasted very earthy from the beets so I feel it’s not for everyone, but I quite enjoyed it. We hadn’t had a proper salad for a while so we enjoyed it more than we might have, also.
ビーフのたたき、ホイシンドレッシング、コリアンダーのペスト、ポン酢マヨネーズ。これも今風の味付けで美味しかったです。
Beef Tataki, with Hoisin Dressing, Coriander Pesto and Ponzu Mayo. Very nice.
トリュフとアスパラガスのタルト、ポルチーニ風味のオランデーズソースとうずらの卵のポーチドエッグ、これも普通に美味しかったです。
Truffle and Asparagus Tart Fine, with Porcini Hollandaise and Poached Quail Eggs. Very good.
ペリペリチキン、パプリカの炭火焼、ケールのサラダ、アーモンドとフェタ。これもとても美味しかったです。
Pot Luck Club Peri Peri Chicken, Charred Pepper and Kale Salad, Almonds and Feta. Delicious.
豚バラのウォドルフ、スモークピーカンバタートセロリアックの灰焼き。ウォドルフサラダのアレンジ。豚の皮をカリカリにしたものがのっています。豚の皮の風味がかなり強く出ていましたが、美味しくいただきました。
Pork Belly Waldorf, Smoked Pecan Butter and Ash Baked Celeriac. Interesting that they made Waldorf Salad warm with pork. The white crispy looking thing on top is crispy pork crackling. The taste of pork skin was the dominant taste but it was enjoyable.
ルバーブとイチゴのソルベ、スポンジケーキなど。ルバーブの味はあまり感じられませんでしたが、いろいろな食感を楽しめました。
Rhubarb and strawberry sorbet, I think, with some sponge cake and meringue. We would have liked more rhubarb flavour to come thorough but we enjoyed it.
わたしたちには、７品が丁度良い量でした。わたしたちは年齢的にそれほどたくさん食べられなくなっているので、お若い方でしたら１０品くらい必要かもしれません。少し味が濃すぎるものもいくつかありましたがぎりぎりいただけるレベルでしたし、どれも味付けはとても美味しかったです。他にも（別記事に書きますが）２件、今風の高級レストランに行きましたが、わたしたちはここのお料理が一番好みでした。ウェイターさんたちもシェフの方達もキビキビ働いておられたのにも、好感がもてました。
We felt 7 dishes between two of us was just about the right amount as we are at the age we cannot eat as much as we used to when we were younger, but younger people probably would like about 10 dishes between two. There were dishes that were too strongly seasoned as I said in the beginning, but it was just on the maximum level I could eat, especially because the portions were quite small and the balance of the seasonings (sweet, salty, sour) and the flavour was very good, we enjoyed all of them. We had dinner at 2 more high level restaurants on this trip but this one was our favourite. Everyone was working very hard – both chefs and waiters -, which was great to see.
ワインは１人１杯ずつ、ガス入りのお水を２本シェアー、お会計はR１２００ほど（１２％のサービス料込み）、日本円で９０００円ちょっと、シンガポールドルで１１５ドルほど。かなり高級なレストランでこのお値段。シンガポールなら多分軽く６００ドル以上でしょう。シンガポールにあったら、再訪したいお店でした。
We had just 1 glass of wine each (but a very generous portion, we noticed this everywhere we went), 2 bottles of sparkling water and the bill was about R1200 including 12% gratuity. This is about 9,000 yen in Japanese yen and 115 dollars in Singapore dollars. I guess it would have been about S$600 or more at home. We would happily go back here if it were in Singapore even at that price.
The Pot Luck Club
The Silo
The Old Biscuit Mill
373-375 Albert Road
Woodstock, Cape Town
7915, South Africa